Greens play public health card

With environmental regulations under siege on Capitol Hill, Democrats and green advocates are falling back on a familiar and, they hope, persuasive argument: These rules will save American lives.

In their failed push to pass global warming legislation in recent years, environmental advocates have warned the public about melting sea ice, species extinction and rampant floods and droughts. The Obama administration and congressional Democrats also have promised that addressing these threats would create “green jobs.”

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But “public health” is now the phrase du jour — both in the climate change debate and in an approaching battle over the Environmental Protection Agency’s rules for smog, soot and harmful air toxins. That means lawmakers who aim to upend environmental regulations will face green groups trying to shame them as opponents of ailing kids and seniors.

“That’s what makes people sit up and pay attention,” said Frank O’Donnell, president of the environmental group Clean Air Watch. “If you’re talking about more environmental impacts broadly, it does not pack the same punch as saying, ‘This polluter might hurt your grandmother.’”

In one example, the Environmental Defense Action Fund is launching an online ad campaign in swing states this week tying children’s health to upcoming votes on EPA rules. One ad reads, “Lobbyists are pushing Congress to let more mercury, carbon dioxide and hydrochloric acid in the air our kids breathe. Don’t let them.”

“The goal is to set the terms of the debate for the coming Clean Air Act fights, focusing the issue on the health risks of air pollution, particularly for children,” said Environmental Defense Fund spokesman Tony Kreindler.

Similarly, the Natural Resources Defense Council last week launched a radio ad campaign accusing Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) of threatening the health of his state’s residents after he voted to block EPA climate rules.

To be sure, greens aren’t less concerned about the planetary impacts of global warming than they were a year ago, but they hope the health arguments will have more resonance amid the sour economy. After all, protecting public health was an effective rallying cry during the Clinton administration, when then-EPA Administrator Carol Browner and her green allies took on Republicans and industry groups who doubted the need to set strict new soot and smog rules.